Wednesday, May 04, 2005

May 5 is Cinco de Mayo, America's celebration of Mexican culture, and so we observe this holiday the way we celebrate every occasion - with some music in bad taste. (Ay ay ay!)"Pancho Sanchez," a parody of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett," was a hit song in the '50's for Lalo Guerrera, the Godfather of Chicano Music who died just a couple of months ago at age 89. Though popular with both white and latino audiences, the song's stereotypical depiction of Mexicans was so offensive to some folks that Lalo wouldn't play it live (much to my disappointment - I saw him live a couple of years ago). He more than made up for it, though, with his vast contribution to music and his involvment with the legendary activist Cesar Chavez.But did he really do a parody of "O Sole Mio" called "There's No Tortillas"?